arson and murder, which each average about $1,400 per incident. Unlike other crimes, where less than half are even reported to police, virtually all arson or murder cases involve fire or police services.
Victim services: activities of Victim Services Agencies and Child Protective Services agencies, as well as foster care for maltreated children removed from their homes, special education for maltreated children, and services aimed at reintegrating families with maltreatment problems.
Few data exist on the extent of victim services by type of victim served. Since this study did not attempt to do primary research in this area, the researchers had to rely on a few existing studies. For the crimes of rape, robbery, and assault, victim service costs were based on the dollar value of Federal Government grants to victim service agencies. This estimate was inflated to account for the non-Federal portion, as described in Cohen, Miller, and Rossman (1994). The result is an extremely conservative estimate that undercounts many private organizations that do not receive Federal funding and ignores the value of time spent by volunteers in these organizations. The estimate that the typical rape victim receives $27 in victim services is clearly an underestimate. Further research on the full extent of victim services would be desirable.
Victim service costs for child abuse are much larger ($1,000 to $2,000 per incident). However, like victim services for adults, these estimates are based on little hard data and several reasonable and conservative assumptions. These estimates primarily involve foster care stays and child protective services for domestic child abuse victims (see Daro, 1988; and McCurdy and Daro, 1993).
Productivity: wages, fringe benefits, housework, and school days lost by victims and their families. This category also includes productivity lost by co-workers and supervisors recruiting and training replacements for disabled workers, worrying about an injured co-worker, etc., and by people stuck in traffic jams caused by drunk driving crashes. Finally, it includes insurance claims processing costs (for example, life insurance claims for fatalities and workers' compensation disability claims for people victimized while working) and legal expenses incurred in recovering productivity losses from drunk drivers and their insurers.
The NCVS data include estimates of the number of hours of work and earnings lost due to medically related problems associated with victimization. The research team imputed
Mental Health Care Following Victimization |
In order to begin to fill this gap, this study conducted a stratified random sample of 168 mental health care professionals, including social workers, pastoral counselors, psychologists, and psychiatrists (Cohen and Miller, 1 994b). Respondents were asked to identify the total number of clients they treated in one calendar year and the percentage of those who were treated primarily as a result of victimization (by type of crime). They were also asked for the typical number of visits a crime victim would make. Table 3 reports the annual mean and median number of victims treated by type of crime, along with associated standard errors. Both mean and median estimates are reported because the means are generally much higher. Although medians are generally more appropriate when sampling with small cell sizes, a good case can be made for using mean estimates in this study. In particular, there appears to be some specialization in treating crime victims, as some respondents no doubt worked in victim service organizations. For purposes of this study's cost estimates in the remainder of this document, the mean estimates are used. In the aggregate, the difference between the mean and median estimates is about 20 percent, or $1 billion. |
Although the results should be viewed as preliminary, If they are replicated and expanded upon in the future, they could yield important new findings. At least 10 percent and perhaps as much as 20 percent of U.S. mental health care spending probably is used to treat victims of violence. Victim-related revenue by mental health care providers in 1991 was estimated to be between $5.8 billion and $6.8 billion, with about one-half of that amount caused by crimes committed that year and the remainder caused by child abuse years eerier. Table 3 also shows estimated mental health services use rates by crime. Notably, survey responses suggest that each murder puts 1.5 to 2.5 witnesses, friends, and relatives into therapy. Mental health treatment also Is quite frequent following rape or child abuse known to the authorities, with estimates ranging from 25-50 percent of all victims receiving some form of mental health treatment. |
Two caveats about this study's survey are especially important when interpreting the estimated rate of mental health care use due to abuse years earlier. First, changes in public perceptions probably make victims of child abuse much more likely to seek mental health care today than in the past. Thus, there may be a temporary increase in adults seeking help. If so, current adult treatment rates traceable to childhood victimization may exceed the long-term average. Second, the rates reported reflect therapists' impressions about the reasons underlying treatment. Their impressions are obviously imperfect and may be confounded by patients' false memories and by other mental illness risk factors in patients' lives. |
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